tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836366202147573152024-03-12T19:15:02.581-07:00Coffee Fueled PhilosophyThis Blog is a collection of original essays, research papers, and personal writing written by my self and close friends.Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-49746889124444769462012-10-03T10:12:00.001-07:002012-10-03T10:12:56.528-07:00A Perfect Morning<br />
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Morning comes across a clear sky</div>
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Its air breathing cool through the trees</div>
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The trees submitting to the change in season</div>
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Their leaves turning to auburns and goldens as a mark of
their transition</div>
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This air cold on my skin and cold on the town’s</div>
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The gathered wood warms home and hearth</div>
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The air carries its scent and enfolds us all</div>
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My spirit revels in such a perfect morning</div>
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Like so many of the autumns in years past</div>
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The same morning that has taken me to school</div>
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The same that has baked warm sweets by my mother’s hand</div>
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The same that walked by my side as I journeyed abroad so far
from home</div>
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This morning is of my heart and soul</div>
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A moment in a fleeting season that I can only reach for </div>
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Never to truly grasp before it is gone</div>
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A phantom of life’s eternal transition from rest to rebirth</div>
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Forever drawn into its gaze I can’t stay long enough before
the cold sends me away</div>
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Back to my own hearth </div>
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To send the smoke signal to another’s heart.</div>
La Redecouvertehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14130542084231085651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-83870574472198860512012-08-05T11:26:00.000-07:002012-08-27T11:38:51.282-07:00Is America a Democracy?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Is
America a democracy? This is a question that I have heard time and again
through out my life. One occurrence has stood out in my memory. Once while
studying at the University library I remember over hearing a conversation
between two young girls, well I suppose more of an argument about this question.
In the end one of the two insisted that America was not a Democracy, but
instead was a Republic. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I
doubt that she understood the definition of a Republic. That it included any
state that was absent a monarch and whose government was a matter of public not
private concern. This included nations like the United States that maintains
universal suffrage allowing all members of the public to play at least a small
role in the operations of the government. Of course the definition of a
republic is on the other hand very broad. It would also include a nation
such a Russia. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It
is hard to argue that Russia is a democracy. Its elections are highly corrupt and constantly challenged by internal and external organizations.
According to the website, freedomhouse.org, Russia has no freedom in the Press
and only limited access to the Internet. In the US we enjoy complete freedom of
expression through a free press and uncensored access to the Internet. The
greatest fear our people experience when heading to a voting booth is that of having
to wait in a long line. In Russia, and many other countries, voting comes with the fear of repression and threats of abuse, incarceration, and torture at the hands of local authorities. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the US all of these freedoms are made possible by one key aspect of our form of
government, The Rule of Law. I mentioned this idea before in a post I wrote
about Chen Guangchengs the self taught Lawyer and activist of recent fame. It
is an important idea, which many Americans have become hostile to over the
passing years. Americans seem to be hardwired to oppose all forms authority
they view as external to their individual lives. Even when the law in question
may be for the exact purpose of preventing other individuals from restricting
their individual rights or in many cases may be necessary in terms of the public
good. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In
the end there is a great deal going on behind the question I posed at the
beginning of this post. Too much I feel for a single post, so it is my humble intention
to write a series of posts on the subject over the next few weeks. For now I
will leave you with a quote from Aristotle’s <i>Politics. </i>Feel free to leave your own thoughts in the comment
section about this quote: <o:p></o:p></div>
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“But
one factor of liberty is to govern and be governed in turn; for the popular
principle of justice is to have equality according to number, not worth, and if
this is the principle of justice prevailing, the multitude must of necessity be
sovereign and the decision of the majority must be final and must constitute
justice, for they say that each of the citizens ought to have an equal share;
so that it results that in democracies the poor are more powerful than the
rich, because there are more of them and whatever is decided by the majority is
sovereign (Aristotle’s Politics 1317b).”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Looking forward to your thoughts as I start this series. Cheers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-24403069715488410012012-06-14T11:12:00.000-07:002012-06-14T11:12:06.470-07:00The Garden<div style="text-align: center;">
Pathways. Grassways. Waterways.</div>
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Botanical Air</div>
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Freshness, Vibrancy, Life</div>
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So beautiful</div>
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Bright sky, Shading trees, Flowers everywhere</div>
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Your hand consciously in mine</div>
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You walked with me and I walked with you</div>
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Truly together</div>
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Feeling together. Experiencing together.</div>
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Joy to be together.</div>
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Moments taken in.</div>
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Peace</div>
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Love</div>
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I wish there were more days in the garden. </div>La Redecouvertehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14130542084231085651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-21953429528438592502012-05-08T15:52:00.000-07:002012-05-08T15:52:04.961-07:00Handbook for the Revolution<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Should revolutionaries have a hand book? Today’s young revolutionary has one in the form of a website, howtooccupy.org. I’ve been flipping through the numerous sections. Included in the site are instructions on every applicable topic. From how tos on civil disobedience, to occupy style protest camps, and even a section on the Fully Informed Jury Association dedicated to helping jurists to better understand their rights and obligations. According to a similar website linked to from howtooccupy.org, occupytogether.wikispot.org, our generation of upstart revolutionaries even have their own unique set of hand gestures to use during their daily General Assemblies. Which brings me to a question not so distant from the one I first posed today. How revolutionary are you if you’re googling how to start a revolution?</div>
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What would it look like if someone had to start revolution on their own? Someone living under a not so democratic state of affairs. Someone with access to only parts of the internet. Perhaps with only a handful of friends, self educated, facing a post cold war sudo-communist regime, and blind as a bat. To specific? Well Chen Guangchengs fits that description to the letter. Google his name. The cliche that truth is stranger than fiction will be fulfilled in a instant.</div>
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Blind from an early age he was illiterate until age 23. After attending a High School for the blind in rural china he studied at the Nanjing School of Medicine and earned a degree in acupuncture and massage. After bearing witness to forced sterilizations and other discriminatory practices against women in china he became a self taught lawyer. His brothers read law books and journals to him and by age 40 he has won several major legal cases in china involving undue taxation of himself and other disabled individuals. After which he returned to Beijing to file lawsuits and expose the practice of forced sterilization in his home province of Shandong. Spoiler... he won.</div>
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Yes this blind self taught lawyer who took on the brutal and heavy handed regime of China won. Several officials were arrested and the practice of forced sterilization was exposed to the world in the pages of Time magazine. This did come at a cost. Chen was arrested on false charges by local officials. After multiple trials and false convictions Chen was released, but soon found himself under house arrest. Under brutal conditions of local officials, trapped in his home, his family beaten and tortured Chen continued to fight back. Pretending to be ill and bedridden for several days he convinced the local guards to let their guard down. Then he escaped his home, climbed several high walls, broke his ankle, walked several miles on a broken ankle, and survived a car chase in order to reach a US embassy in Beijing.</div>
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That is the broadest brush stroke one could paint of his story. And no I don’t believe Chan has submitted his screenplay to hollywood just yet( <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.csmonitor.com%2FWorld%2FAsia-Pacific%2F2012%2F0504%2FChinese-dissident-Chen-Guangcheng-s-next-step-Study-at-a-US-university-video&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEvlR32O8N-8c9-CLeFkORKzjYb2Q">see csmonitor.com</a> ). Instead he is now deftly navigating a international relations chess match between Washington and Beijing as he works towards finding a new home for himself and his family. In the meantime he continues to speak out against corruption in China ( <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fsns-rt-us-china-dissidentbre847058-20120507%2C0%2C7541138.story&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHMr4gL7LRKy6EioANv3wnOMJAUyg">see Chicago Tribune</a> ). If you're looking for a few pointers on how to be revolutionary you might want to check out this guys life story, not those other self professed field manuals to revolution. Or better yet you could, I don’t know, read a couple law books yourself, maybe go back to school, or just show up and cast a ballot sometime. No we do not live in China, we do not live under some communist regime; no matter what your local tea party supporter has told you. (Although if you are that guy carrying on about ‘tax reform’ Chan’s story might help you realize what wrongful taxation really is.)</div>
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In the end China is not a very democratic place. Although Chan’s methods should not be mysterious to you or I. They do not involve hand gestures or the construction of complex protest camps. Chan resorted only to the law. Whether it was filing lawsuits, writing articles, speaking out publicly, or simply being willing to speak the truth when no one else had the courage. Chan showed up. When no one else did, Chan got involved. If you want to start revolution you should try Chan’s method. But you and I both know you won’t. It's easy to complain about the way the government works. To moan about your taxes. To point fingers at other people. It’s another thing to get involved in constructive way. Although who am I to tell you what you will or won’t do. I just write a blog. I’m just another under employed philosophy major trying to scratch out a little bit of truth. Although, maybe I will try that voting thing at least one more time, and until then maybe I’ll ask a few questions, and even try finding a few answers in between. So what are you going to do?</div>
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Cheers<br />
</div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-85772750500927514502012-04-26T09:10:00.000-07:002012-04-26T09:10:06.740-07:00Toys<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5528720784932375" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last year in the US the Toy industry generated $21.8 billion in sales. They included childhood favorites like Legos, Play-doh, board games like monopoly, and one of my personal favorites Nerf dart blasters. The toys we buy for our kids, the ones we hold onto in our basements and attics, and even toys that are yet to come to market say a lot about who we are.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Missing from this year's sales will be nearly 650,000 toys seized by the Consumer Product Safety Commision at US ports this past month. It seems even our beloved childhood toys are not free from the domination of foreign imports and the ever revolving list of threats to our health such as lead poisoning. Although even with a speculated 90 percent of toys being made over seas there are still great companies making toys here in the US. Little Tikes and Knexs are both produced here in the US. Some US toy companies like Channel Craft outside Pittsburgh, PA may cost more but the quality greatly exceeds any import. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The National Museum of Play in New York does not have a collection featuring defective or dangerous toys of the past, but they should. A collection of re-called or toxic toys would highlight just how important quality is over quantity. Some of my favorite toys growing up where the smallest like yo yos and lego blocks. Things that could fit in your pocket, whether it be something as sophisticated as a gameboy or as simple as a super bounce ball quickly became prized possessions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I never felt any great attachment to the numerous numbers of cheap plastic dollar store toys short of perhaps toy soldiers. But even then I preferred the tin kind my grandfather had on his shelf. Parents should realize that more is not better, that fewer toys of a higher quality are what create lasting memories. There are a number of great blogs to help you find the right toys. Try </span><a href="http://www.drtoy.com/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">www.drtoy.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a site with lots of great ideas. Or if your really want to make some memories get creative and make some of your own toys at home. Check out </span><a href="http://www.custompapertoys.com/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">www.custompapertoys.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or </span><a href="http://dirtandboogers.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">dirtandboogers.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or search around for your-self, the internet is full of sites about making your own toys with your kids.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Toys can quickly become a lot more than the sum of their parts. Jose Gomez -Marquez’s </span><a href="http://littledevices.org/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Little Devices Lab</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at MIT explores the toy world to find DIY medical devices to use in places like Africa. Bicycle pumps power nebulizers and lego sets become spectrophotometry kits saving lives and helping doctors to track diseases in places where hospitals may be out of reach and traditional labs simply don’t exist. Toys are the inspiration for young minds to, whole worlds are opened up through the types of toys we interact with. So who do you want the kids in your life to be like? What kinds of toys will you pass down? </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sources:</span><br /><a href="https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/pressreleases/pr_120131a"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/pressreleases/pr_120131a</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.toyassociation.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=17490"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.toyassociation.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=17490</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.museumofplay.org/collections/other"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.museumofplay.org/collections/other</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">USA Toy Companies:</span><br /><a href="http://www.channelcraft.com/Scripts/PublicSite/index.php?userid=&template=ShowCatPublic&cat=169265"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.channelcraft.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.fatbraintoys.com/specials/made_in_america.cfm"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.fatbraintoys.com/specials/made_in_america.cfm</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My Favorites:</span><br /><a href="http://dealspl.us/Toys_deals/p_nerf-vortex-nitron-blaster"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://dealspl.us/Toys_deals/p_nerf-vortex-nitron-blaster</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><a href="http://dealspl.us/Toys_deals/p_monopoly-library-classic-edition"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://dealspl.us/Toys_deals/p_monopoly-library-classic-edition</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Bricks-More-Deluxe-Brick/dp/B002UD8P4S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1335449683&sr=8-2"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Bricks-More-Deluxe-Brick/dp/B002UD8P4S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1335449683&sr=8-2</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Play-Doh-24-Pack-of-Colors/dp/B000V64HZ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335449731&sr=8-1"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.amazon.com/Play-Doh-24-Pack-of-Colors/dp/B000V64HZ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335449731&sr=8-1</span></a></b>
</div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-80099242884955036362012-04-20T12:49:00.003-07:002012-04-20T12:49:55.360-07:00The Lost<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Etan Patz, 6 years old, was last seen leaving his SoHo home in 1979. 30 years later SoHo is now populated with high in boutiques and restaurants. The artists lofts are all but disappearing and all but a handful of art galleries have moved to Chelsea. And still the memory of Etan lives on to such an extent that on Thursday NYPD and FBI investigators descended on 127B Prince Street to search the basement of the apartment building once home to prime suspect Jose A. Ramos. </div>
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Utilities were shut down, the corner was cordoned off, and officers broke out jack hammers drills, and shovels in order to search for the body of young Eaton. The Soho of 1979 may be gone but so strong is the desire for answers as to the disappearance of young Eaton that even 30 years later police, family, friends, and even long time residents are still carrying on the search. This speaks volumes to the fact that our lives are defined as much by the people in our lives as those missing from it. </div>
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Any of the thousands of widows, mothers, fathers, and siblings of service men and women who have gone missing in action can testify to the emotional effects of suddenly having a love one disappear from their lives. "When someone is killed, there's finality, with those who are missing, there's uncertainty. It's harder to know when to give up hope and when to begin grieving." Ann Mills Griffiths, executive director of the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia sister to Vietnam MIA Lt. Commander James B. Mills of the U.S. Navy Reserves. It is the same for those who have lost loved ones outside of the carnage of war too. </div>
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It could be argued that it is the same for those who have never known important members of their family. A mother or father lost in war or to disease or simply absent leaves the same void for many children. A void that has no finality, no possible hope of closure. Our mortality to is in itself an absence, an uncertainty of what could have been or may never have been. The same day that officers descended on SoHo to continue the search for young Ethan the remains of Army Pfc. Richard E. Clapp, 19, of Seattle, Washington where discovered and began their journey home to friends and family who were still waiting for his return. Many more still wait for the lost to return in one way or another and many more wait for those that never were and never will be. </div>
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In Russia a sudden series of teen suicides have been spreading throughout the former Soviet Union. In February two 14 year old girls, holding hands, leaped from a sixteen story rooftop. They were followed by countless others who chose to follow them in death through hangings or similar leaps. These children choose to join the ranks of the lost. One can only speculate as to the reasons for their desire to commit suicide but I would be willing to say that it had something to do with the individuals missing from their own lives. Russian authorities, on the other hand, cited the absence of mental health services and social support groups in a nation still suffering under the collapse of the soviet union. </div>
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A countless number of people move through their day to day lives searching for someone who is missing. In the meantime they are surrounded by countless others just like themselves. Too few know they are not alone in this condition. Those two little girls in Russia may not have even known what individual was missing from the others life. They may never have even had the courage to ask. So, who is missing from your life? </div>
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Cheers</div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.7686308277770877" style="font-size: medium; text-align: -webkit-auto; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/nyregion/in-etan-patz-case-police-begin-new-search-for-remains.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/nyregion/in-etan-patz-case-police-begin-new-search-for-remains.html</span></a></b>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.7686308277770877" style="font-size: medium; text-align: -webkit-auto; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/honor/sfeature/sf_list.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/honor/sfeature/sf_list.html</span></a></b>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.7686308277770877" style="font-size: medium; text-align: -webkit-auto; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/world/europe/in-russia-spate-of-teenage-suicides-causes-alarm.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/world/europe/in-russia-spate-of-teenage-suicides-causes-alarm.html</a></span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.7686308277770877" style="font-size: medium; text-align: -webkit-auto; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=15203">http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=15203</a></span></b>
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</div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-6643159301036413222012-04-13T07:22:00.000-07:002012-04-13T07:22:35.320-07:00Instagram<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.6289865509606898" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.6289865509606898"></b></span><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.6289865509606898"><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you read my post yesterday you may have noticed an interesting fact I left out. Instagram is of course a company without profits or revenue but what it does have is users. About 10 million users. 10 million or so individuals who love sending photos to their friends. But wait couldn’t they already do that with their smart phone? Instagram does allow users to add crazy photo effects to pictures, although, this too could be easily accomplished before Instagram came along. So what is it that makes this app so appealing. It is simple to use and free; both points in its favor. But the app itself is not why Instagram is so successful. It is the photos. </span></b></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A pictures says a thousand words...’ the most Cliche of phrases. True none the less. Recently Alison Nordström and Elizabeth McCausland released a new volume of Lewis Hine’s photographs. Hines’ was made famous by his photographs of Iron workers constructing the Empire State building and immigrants arriving at Ellis Island in New York. Instagram allows the average smartphone user to reproduce the brown hues or granny black and white that made Hine’s photos timeless. But it will take allot more to match the impact of his work as the photographer for the National Child Labor Committee. It will take content. Content that simply is not mainstream nowadays. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hine’s photographs turned the hearts and minds of millions of americans. Images of young boys working in coal mines and young girls crawling under gigantic cotton lumes proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that child labor was a problem in america. Everyone in america saw Hine’s photos. How many of us have seen a photo of a modern day coal worker? Type coal miner into google images. You’ll find hundreds of photos from Hine’s time period and a few from our own. Download any photo of a modern coal miner to your phone and add the inkwell effect with Instagram and you have another timeless image like Hine’s.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The thing is you won’t. Images like those belonging to Hine’s still exist. Yes, of course we no longer have small children in the mines, but grown men are still descending into the dark unknown. Many more across the world in china are doing the same thing. Still more in between here and china take to the streets in places like Syria to struggle against repression and tyranny. Few if any photos arrive though from syria and of those that do slip out from china are few and seldom seen by the average american. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what kind of power is there in a image that's never seen? Instagram takes photos from your phone and in moments broadcasts them to every other human on the planet. In three seconds a photo is snapped, cropped, ‘photoshopped,’ and uploaded to facebook, blogger, and email. Whether those other people choose to view them is another story. And that is the point we come to. Instagram is not a force to be reckoned with because of its ease of use or even the content which people upload with it. Its impact comes from the other people. It comes from people viewing and interacting with those images. It derives its true effect when you choose to view photos of cats wearing funny hats instead of images of rural africa. Instagram is as much about the photos we don’t view rather than what we really use it for. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cheers</span></div>
</div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-1455790886764011272012-04-11T10:31:00.000-07:002012-04-11T10:31:56.698-07:00One billion dollars.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.6754499627277255" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Droid Sans'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One billion dollars. </span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.6754499627277255" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are anything like me, or the other folks I work with, you most likely just read the title of this post with a Dr. Evil accent. I would like to think thats how it ran through the mind of Mark Zuckerberg recently when he decided to purchase the company instagram for exactly the same amount. $1,000,000,000 for a company with no profits, no revenue, and less than two dozen employees. A billion is a hard number to wrap one's mind around. It typically only comes up in conversation when discussing corporate profits or debating the finer points of government deficits. So what is a billion dollars? </span></b></div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.6754499627277255" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The world population as of 2010 was beginning to close in on 7 billion humans. Only about 300 million of them live here in the US. But approx 1 billion occupy a continent just across the atlantic; Africa. Here in the US about 78 percent of people have internet access allowing them to join us in musing about the concept of a billion dollars. In Africa it is closer to 10 percent. About half of them live on less than one dollar a day and about a third will go to bed hungry tonight. In the US the per capita income is $40,000. World wide approx 1 in 7 people go hungry every day, which conveniently enough, turns out to be approx One Billion. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A lot of numbers to toss around in your head, but still just numbers. You may feel outrage at the idea of a company with almost no tangible value selling for 1 billion dollars while a billion people across the globe go hungry. This outrage has no tangible basis, outrage at a number Many of us work for corporations with similarly outlandish monetary values. None of us actually ever see millions in cash being carried in or out of our offices, stores, or job sites. Almost no one reading this blog post has ever seen, met, or spoken to anyone living in Africa let alone encountered hunger on a personal level.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1 Billion. Enough money to double the per capita income of most of africa. A small connection. Maybe just enough to bridge the gap between us and them. What would it mean to you if your income doubled tomorrow? How much more would it mean if your children had been starving the day before? One Billion is a meaningless number to a woman in africa, but one dollar, one dollar would be worth killing for. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Numbers are a queer business. We probably see Billions of them in our lifetimes. Finances, math classes, election results, sports scores, weather reports; numbers poor into our lives at a steady and endless rate. With the advent of smartphones we all travel about with tiny computers in our pockets pouring digits into our hands and sometimes overwhelming us mentally and emotionally. Although, typically we manage, we are used to most of the quantities we encounter in our day to day lives. Repetition and the human races unique ability to catalog and sort through the endless amount of data in our lives have made us almost immune to most large numbers. Now with a 7 billion plus people roaming the earth, maybe we’ll soon learn to cope with the idea of a Billion. Maybe we’ll even learn how to use it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cheers</span></div>
</b></div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-14596921842001576912012-03-18T18:04:00.001-07:002012-03-18T18:04:43.834-07:00Memories and Madness (Part III)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
I
have held onto precious instruments and I have lost others upon the hearth of
love. I have listened to the tunes written for cows and sea shells and been
left wishing that I had seen an old cow of my own sink into the dark depths of
some bog; longed for the sights and smells of sea shells and sand. A fool I’ve
been many times in love, now a long lost memory. All of this is madness and
somewhere along the way I think I may have forgotten to take my meds… <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The
following is yet another chunk of lyrics, these from a much more modern song by
the band <i>Placebo. </i>The band was
founded around 1996, and released the record that bears this track as its title
in 2006:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
"Meds"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
I was alone, falling free,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
trying my best not to forget,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
what happened to us, what happened to
me,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
what happened as I let it slip.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
I was confused by the powers that be,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
forgetting names and faces,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
Passers by, were looking at me,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
as if they could erase it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
Baby...did you forget to take your
meds?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
This
song hit the airwaves, so to speak, the following year. It was right around the
time I felt I too was going a bit mad. The bands name, according to Stefan
Olsdal, comes from the Latin for ‘I please.’ It was intended in someway to be a
stab at the 90’s cliché of naming bands after popular drugs. It’s a band name
that could resonate with anyone caught up in an unauthentic existence trying
only just hard enough to please the people around them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
This
Song, and several others by the band, has been floating around on my IPOD ever
since. The rest of the lyrics drive home the meaning:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
Baby...did you forget to take your
meds?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
I was alone, staring over the ledge,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
Trying my best not to forget,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
all manner of joy, all manner of glee,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
and our one heroic pledge.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
How it mattered to us, how it mattered
to me,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
and the consequences.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
I was confused, by the birds and the
bees,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
forgetting if i meant it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
I’ve
fallen. I’ve been left holding onto whatever once was. I’ve been confused by
sex, lust, music, drugs, and who ever it is that really is the ‘powers to be ‘
(I’m leaning towards the thought that no one is really in control…). And now I have come to the point where I
truly believe I may not be alone. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Although
my path in life seems dedicated to it, and Musashi being my one true guide, I
have found a pattern in the winds. When I play the tunes of old pipers gone to
dust in the madness of love and war, when I turn on an old album, or when I sit
and watch the comings and goings of the world around me, I keep feeling it.
That MacDonald, Raghnall, Placebo, myself… we are not just isolated incidents.
A pattern emerges. We are all together in being alone. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Cheers. <o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-74910045282101115312012-03-13T14:19:00.002-07:002012-03-18T17:17:04.771-07:00Love and Childhood Memories (Part II)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: justify;">An
album tells a story just as well as any Bard of old. Here is an excerpt from an
Album I’ve had since I was a great deal younger. Purchased direct from its
creature while I was a student of hers at the Ohio Scottish Arts School:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Lament for Ronal MadDonald of
Moroar/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">South in Autumn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">…as featured on Ann Gray’s 1998
Album ‘Shouting at Magpies.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">“Oh lad of the brown hair, your
are eyes are autumn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Leaves fall like tears; I
cannot cry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">In bitter wind, then, my heart
is lonely<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Lonely hills and sky<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">The fields are untended, the
cattle scattered<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Magpies quarrel overhead<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">My thoughts are stones to throw
at them<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">If you can, come to me again<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Travel by little known ways<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Through the high passes, before
they fill with snow”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">At home now they’ll be turning
the fields,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">The shadows lengthening, the
winter coming<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">The rooks will call from trees
without leaves,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">And oh now the seasons are
turning…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Chorus:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">And if my feet had wings to
fly, then tonight in your arms I’d lie<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">But I’m two hundred miles South
in Autumn…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">The battles lost, the battles
won – are as a dream to me now<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Amongst the heather<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Of fine rain and mist, we are
its children<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">And I slowly turn for home<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Chorus…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">I think I shall not see you
again, last night a vision to me came<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">The women they were keening
‘round a hearth grown cold<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">And I had gone to my last
battle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Chorus…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The
lament was written for Ronald MacDonald of Morar, known in his time as Raghnall
Mac Ailein Oig, a celebrated hero and composer. The tune it self, according to
Barnaby Brown, falls with in the Free Lyrical form of the classic Ceol Mor
tradition of Scotland. It is ‘unfettered by geometrical repeated patterns,’
other wise so common to other classic Pibrochs’. It’s a good tune but not one
I’ve had the pleasure of learning. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Although,
according to Highland legend as recorded by folklorist Calum MacLean in his
1959 book <i>The Highlands,</i> MacDonald may
have composed another tune I learned as a young man:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
‘There
is one very lovely pibroch called, <i>MacCrimmion’s
Sweetheart… </i>Tradition in the Arisaig district has it that the pibroch was
composed… by Raghnall Mac Ailein Oig to a sea-shell that he picked up one day
as he strode along the shore.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
According
to Iain Macey, who taught me how to play the tune while I was attending his
course on beginning piobroch, a different account of its creation could be
given. His version, also recorded in MacLean’s book, told how one MacCrimmon
wrote it for a favorite brown polled cow that fell into a bog… <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Brown
pulled cows aside, the tune holds too much emotional weight for me to play a
note of it without the memories of my own love past filling my heart with remorse.
It carries enough baggage for me to sink my own heart in any bog or swamp. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i>South in Autumn</i> is a track that tells a
tale of a man far from his love, unable to return to her side. At face value it
would seem that the war that has separated him from his sweetheart would be
difficult to relate to for you or I. But the emotions that come out are
universal. The kind of emotions found in millions of love songs and thousands
of lines of verse. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Something
about being alone, far from the one you love. It strikes a cord deep inside
anyone’s heart. Love; Lost or destroyed, in madness or death. That love ‘which
paints the petal with myriad hues, glances in the warm sunbeam, arches the
cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night with starry gems, and covers
earth with loveliness.’ In the Highlands or Lowlands, the waters in the north
or the mountains to our south. No difference is perceivable in what was and
still exists in the hearts of all. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Cheers.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-28008538664032761652012-03-10T17:00:00.002-08:002012-03-18T17:17:45.910-07:00Fools and Love (Part I)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Coffee
shops are a good place to tell stories. The following story immortalized
Murdoch MacDonald as the “The Harper of Mull” and comes from M.P.A. Ramsay’s
ed. of Tamahill’s Poems:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">“In the Island of Mull there lived a harper who was
distinguished for his professional skill, and was attached to Rosie, the
fairest flower in the island, and soon made her his bride. Not long afterwards
he set out on a visit to some low country friends, accompanied by Rosie, and
carrying his harp, which had been his companion in all his journeys for years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Overtaken by shades of night, in a solitary part of
the country, a cold faintness fell upon Rosie, and she sank, almost lifeless,
into the harper’s arms. He hastily wrapped his plaid around her frame, but to
no purpose. Distracted, he hurried from place to place in search of fuel, to
revive the dying embers of life. None could be found. His harp lay on the
grass, its neglected strings vibrating to the blast. The harper loved it as his
own life, but he loved his Rosie better then either. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">His nervous arm was applied to its sides, and ere long
it lay crackling and blazing on the heath. Rosie soon revived under its genial
influence, and resumed the journey when morning began to purple the east.
Passing down the side of the hill, they were meet by a hunter on horseback, who
addressed Rosie in the style of an old and familiar friend. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">The harper, innocent himself, and unsuspicious of
others, paced slowly along, leaving her in converse with the stranger.
Wondering at her delay he turned round and beheld the faithless fair seated
behind the hunter on his steed, which speedily bore them out of sight. The
unhappy, transfixed with astonishment, gazed at them. Then, slowly turning his
steps homewards, he, sighing, exclaimed – <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">‘Fool that I was to burn my harp for her!’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Before
the Bagpipe took hold in Scotland, the Bard and the Harper held dominion on the
Battle Field and by the hearth. They where the keepers of the cultural store
house, so to speak, of the Isles and recounted genealogies and histories,
tragedies and tales of adventure. MacDonald, in many accounts, is referenced as
the last of the Harpers. He reportedly died in 1789 just a few years after the
Highland Society began its first Piobaireachd competitions in Scotland.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
I
could never claim the innocents of the Harper in this story. I have though
sacrificed an instrument before for the purpose of visiting a fair flower of my
own. One that was long gone before my feet ever took to the road… thankfully it was
not my pipes. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
I
wonder how far MacDonald’s feet carried him before Rosie was pushed from
memory. If ever he could, how did he move on? Harps are replaced easily. A
little time and money and a new instrument replaces an old one. Although, I'm sure none of the Harpers I have known in my life would agree. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
It
should be left at that. A harp, a set of pipes, a fiddle; none are equivalent to
the love of ones life. But who among us knows for sure whom that is, in till
our lives are already completed. In the mean time we keep walking. As
MacDonald, we let our feet carry us forward down the road, even as we are
forced to leave the one we loved behind. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Cheers<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-30461262814787488542012-02-04T17:45:00.000-08:002012-02-04T17:45:34.320-08:00Government Conspiracies: Agenda 21, Light Bulbs, and Smart Meters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Government Conspiracies <o:p></o:p></div>
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Agenda 21, Light Bulbs, and Smart Meters <o:p></o:p></div>
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A
few weeks back I opened the local paper. I was sitting at work on my lunch
break, and as I often do I turned to the Readers Tell Us column, a local
section where readers can call in and leave their personal remarks on local and
national issues. A individual had called in to complain about the current
federal regulations restricting the sale and manufacture of incandescent light
bulbs. This is a complaint that has been
made repeatedly by every one from presidential candidate Newt Gingrich to local
Tea Party groupies. But this time the argument, or compliant, was not about
having his personal liberties encroached by the new restrictions. The
individual was insisting that his home heating bills had increased do to the
removal of incandescent light bulbs from his home. He claimed that the bulbs
had produced so much heat that their absence was causing a increase in his
heating bills. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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This
sort of argument is becoming more and more commonplace. Today the New York
Times printed an article featuring a number of arguments about how local plans
to develop green spaces, reduce carbon footprints of local communities, and
even smart meters where all products of a U.N. conspiracy to create a new world
order.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> In
the past these concerns would have been brushed aside as non-sense. Today with
the growing presence of local Tea Party Groups these sorts of arguments are
having considerable impact on decision-making on the local level. <o:p></o:p></div>
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If
we look to the Chicago-Sun Times we see how misguided such fears are.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> To
steal a quote Kateri Callahan president of the Alliance to Save Energy, stated:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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“There is a lot of misinformation… Retailers
don’t have to take inventories of old bulbs off the shelves. The government is
not going to come into homes to check. ... You’re still going to be able to buy
incandescent bulbs. They’re just going to be 28 to 30 percent more efficient.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So
the gentlemen above may still not be placed at ease because more efficient
bulbs mean less of the ambient heat that represents the primary source of
wasted energy. Although the pro and cons of ‘light bulb home heating’ seem like
something better left up to the Myth Busters we can rest assured that when big
brother does invade our homes it wont be to check our desk lamps. For the time
being make sure to check out this article and Wikipedia for a break down of the
different kinds of bulbs:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/tips-on-shopping-for-energy-efficient-bulbs/">http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/tips-on-shopping-for-energy-efficient-bulbs/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Newt
and his Tea Party fans commonly cite the same UN resolution when defending
their fears of a new world ‘lighting’ agenda. It is ominously titled ‘Agenda
21.’<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Apparently no one at the UN has a degree in marketing, because naming your
environmental initiatives in the same way B-movie directors name films is no
way to win over the masses. Upon actually reading Agenda 21 you’ll find a very
vague plan for reducing consumption and limiting development in rural areas.
The plan for in acting this agenda is more carrot then stick. It involves
offering developing countries special financing for local planning and
developing. For big countries it means mostly education and out reach. If this
is the new world order we’re to fear, then we truly have nothing to fear but
fear it self. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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That
is simply what most of the Tea Party’s outrage boils down to, blind fear.
Individuals who, do to a lack of education, old age, misinformation from media
and politicians, or simple laziness, lack the ability to adapt to an ever-changing
world. This is not new. It is a story as old as time. People fear change. Therefore
people fear funny shaped light bulbs. What do you fear? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Cheers<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="ftn1">
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/us/activists-fight-green-projects-seeing-un-plot.html<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> http://couriernews.suntimes.com/news/9906045-418/old-light-bulbs-fading-but-what-will-replace-them.html<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21/res_agenda21_00.shtml<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--EndFragment--></div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-84630387955987093612012-01-22T15:07:00.003-08:002012-03-08T16:38:27.126-08:00A Kernal of Whale Truth: Inspired by Brett's Swallowing WhaleAlthough it is Jonah and the big fish/whale, and not Brett's whale, it was Brett's inference as to the meaning of being swallowed by a whale that inspired this commentary. (See Brett Lamb's blog post 1/22/12 "The whale has swallowed me".<br /><br />Brett explains that to have the feeling of being swallowed by the whale is something "akin to fate", though it is not a desire to die nor the pain of mortality. Rather, "It is instead the simple feeling we all have in the deeps of our stomachs that there is something going on that we cannot quite put our fingers on...the truth that no man, woman or child can quite describe or grasp in language alone."<br /><br />The notion of fate we know as a fixed set of events for the future. The notion of something bigger than ourselves is much less prescribed and can be as simple as a quality of humility--submitting to the ideal of family or a community. It can also be deeper, believing in an ideal that has intelligence and subsequently power to affect our lives in significant if not all-encompassing ways. Whether one believes in a predestined life or more broadly a life in which there is an affecting body of person, state, ideal or supreme being(s)...there is still a notion of something existing inseparable from our life...we are not alone.<br /><br />The next concept to note is that the intelligence other than ourselves (free-willed or not) is not always known. In fact as decades progress it seems more and more would refer to this intelligence as the unknown. Brett alludes to this as that which we can't put our fingers on, that which we have no words to describe. Though artists and poets may reach for the existential to inspire them, many others may feel that being swallowed by the whale can be disorienting or even scary. Most people want to have control over their lives. To feel that their life is being moved, out of their control, or at least under the varying influence of another, can seem to them like a wild sea creature is eating them whole without a moment to escape. Being swallowed by a whale is not a positive experience.<br /><br />I offer another perspective. The swallowing whale is a fact of life--being overcome, without warning, by a darkness. We get overwhelmed. We transition into new phases of our life--adjusting to new people, new environments, new and unfamiliar anything-- adjustments that are like having to be born again, finding our way unclear of our path. Some experience depression. Sometimes we simply feel lost. Even the most elevated and positive thinkers can find themselves tested or challenged to prove themselves over darkness and back into light.<br /><br />Whatever metaphor the swallowing whale serves, I venture to claim the purpose of being swallowed is all the same. The purpose being--to be brought closer to that which you seek. This kind of darkness that is cast upon people means that they were previously in light. Thus, their natural instinct is to find a way out of the darkness and back to the light. Darkness thrusts us in a potential search and discovery process, if we accept the opportunity. Searching can return to us void initially and we can feel hopeless and lost...but eventually the discovery of whatever it is we seek, if we continue looking, emerges, we find our footing and the unknown is less obscure and more understood. So if we feel absorbed by the question of our fate or of the general unknown, the question only begs an answer. We are then engaged in the search for the answer--the answer that will bring us out of the whale. The whale is merely the place we go to search deep within ourselves...even if we don't consciously invite the experience.<br /><br />Having a different outlook of the purpose of the swallowing whales in our lives...that it actually serves us rather than attacks us...can make for a much different outcome in the experience. Those who feel attacked or absorbed unannounced by something unknown that may be friend or foe are likely to remain stuck in the darkness longer. Take this metaphor: If someone knows there is an exit to a maze they are likely to seek the exit until they find it. If someone does not know there is an exit they most likely won't look for it and thus live in the maze (the darkness of the whale's belly) much longer. Putting <span style="font-style: italic;">whale swallowing experiences </span>in context--varied experiences though they are (some blatantly scarey and disorienting, some more subtly so)-- makes for a different overall life experience. Potentially the difference of having greater peace. Some people live around the challenges of life rather than in conjunction with them. It's all life and each person's life belongs to them in its entirety--whale swallowing experiences and all. Put your finger on that notion...it might make all the difference.La Redecouvertehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14130542084231085651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-41836487859899334122012-01-22T14:16:00.000-08:002012-01-22T14:16:39.889-08:00The whale has swallowed me…<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
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<span style="text-align: justify;">Yona,
Yunos, Lonas… Jonah, and of course our friend the Whale. Then again according
to the Hebrew text of the Tanakh, the Quran and the Bible he is of course
merely a ‘big fish.’ When did he become a Whale? This question arose the other
day when a co-worker was recounting a Halloween were her husband turned his
pick up truck into a giant paper mache Whale. It followed me home to where I
had been listening to Hugh Laurie's new album ‘Let them Talk.’ Hugh covers an old
J.B. Lenoir track titled, of course, ‘The Whale has Swallowed Me.’ The Lyrics
are simple, and are what under lie all good blues songs, acting as the perfect
source of meditation. Lenoir has given us an interesting metaphor; he sometimes
‘…feels that old whale has swallowed [him to].’</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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What
does it mean to feel like a whale has swallowed you? Its’ not found in the
obsession of the Captain Ahab. It cannot be categorized under the uniquely
Christian disease, of desiring a death made impossible by the resurrection and
redemption of Christ (That Kierkegaard describes as the ‘Sickness Unto Death’).
It is not even the simple pain of mortality. Our friend the ‘big fish’ is more
a kin to fate itself, bearing down on the helpless seafarers of old, and as it
bears down on us today. It is short of the pain of mortality it self. It is
instead the simple feeling we all have in the deeps of our stomachs that there
is something going on that we cannot quite put our fingers on. It is that same
emotion C.K. Chesterton indicated to as the motivating factor of all great
poets and artists. The truth that no man, woman or child can quite describe or
grasp in language alone. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Lenoir
most likely would not have known of the translational error that came from the
pulpit. He would have perhaps realized that the story came from the Old
Testament making it both important to Christians and Jews. It is less likely
that he knew of it’s recounting in chapter 37 of the Koran. Here it is a story
much a kin to that found in the Old Testament. Jonah flees from the calling of
Lord aboard a ship only to be cast into the sea when the ship becomes overtaken
by a storm. His lot in life came as lots where drawn by his fellow shipmates
seeking to appease their respective gods. In the end he repents and is rescued
from the belly of the whale. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Why
did he end up trapped in the belly of the great fish? According to the Quran he
committed acts worthy of blame. But what did Lenoir do to be worthy of blame?
Maybe God knows? But what we can be sure of is that he grew up in the Deep
South during a time of racial discrimination. These motivations came to the
forefront in later albums he produced in the mid-60’s titled <i>Alabama Blues</i> and <i>Down In Mississippi. </i>And in a performance captured in a Martin
Scorsese Blues Documentary these later themes become intertwined with his
original classic. You can check the video out on YouTube (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34evyrWA0xc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34evyrWA0xc</a>).
It captures that something, the feeling we cannot describe in words, and it
dose it with the images of the fight for civil rights and the bending strings
of Lenoir’s guitar. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
So
when did the ‘big fish’ become a whale? I feel it must have happened sometime
shortly after people stopped reading the bible and began to depend once more
upon their respective religious elders for divine inspiration. But the whale is
a strangely fitting symbol, for those who look past the literal meaning and try
to grasp at that deeper kernel of truth. The rest, well they make giant paper
mache whales out of trucks. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Cheers <o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-29723738717318389492012-01-20T11:37:00.001-08:002012-01-22T14:19:38.408-08:00small-d democrat<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Noun<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
small-d
democrat <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
A
democrat, that is, a person who holds democratic views; not necessarily someone
who is a member of a country's "Democratic Party".<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The
voter roll at my local polling location has a capital D next to my name, but I may
be more of a small-d democrat. I’m not the only one. Not so long ago the
President of the United States felt much the same way,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
"As
a democrat, as a person who believes in democracy -- a Republican democrat, I
might add -- as someone who believes that everybody has a right to live in a
free society. . . January, 2005, is an extraordinary month." George W.
Bush<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
I
was outraged when my fellow small-d democrat lead my nation into a decade long
war. I rejoiced when he worked accomplished landmark victories in the fight
against AIDs in Africa. And in between I felt rather in different. But recently
I have found my self-labeled as capital-D democrat more and more. My support
for the current president has forced me to suffer through a great deal of
naming calling. From ‘Liberal,’ ‘Progressive,’ to even ‘Socialist’ and
‘Communist’ sometimes all in the same sentence. According to the dictionary
those are to word that shouldn’t even appear side by side. And that is the problem.
Suddenly my support of a candidate or my party affiliation has become more
defining to who I am then my actually beliefs, my actions, or who I actually
vote for. I have awoken to find my self
in a society, where no matter your title, you are forced to be either for
government or against government. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
This
is what my Intro to Philosophy professor Schlitz would have classified as a
false dichotomy. We are presented with a choice between to respectively
exclusive options; either we dismantle the government or allow it to expand
with out check. Clearly there are other options. But where do we begin? How
about with a question posed by Ezra Klein during the 2010 midterms? Would
progressives being willing to sacrifice many of their political gains from Gay
rights to the most recent Health Care Reform Act in the face of a new
Republican Majority? His answer is critical to defining a small-d democrat and
the choices they make about how we should be governed. Even though a individual
like my self may strongly support a piece of legislation, it is in the best
interest of the legislative process that the majority still commands the power
needed to reverse past legislation. In 2010 we saw a Republican/Tea Party take
over of congress on the promise or repeal. No such repeal came to be. Although
we are left to ask why the new majority chose to focus its new mandate on debt
ceilings and endless debates about ‘class warfare’ when it could have clearly
have brought repeal to the floor of at least the House? This is because when
faced with the threat of filibuster political actors fail to act in accordance
to the wishes of the majority and by doing so muddy the waters of political
responsibility. As Klein states: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
“Strengthening
that crucial relationship between cause (one party got elected) and effect
(they passed bills) is not only better from the perspective of assuring action
on problems. It's also a road to a better-informed citizenry that knows who to
blame, and who to reward, for the condition of the country and the performance
of the most recent Congress.” Ezra Klein<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><sup><sup><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[1]</span></sup></sup></a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
And
this brings me to an Anonymous article written in 1962. The essence of the
article is that in the United States we have what the author refers to as
capital-D democracy. This is a system where individuals elect representatives
and by such process the minority is forced to accept the edicts of the majority
as law.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><sup><sup><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[2]</span></sup></sup></a> This
is placed in stark opposition to what could be called small-d democracy or
‘economic democracy.’ Individuals go into the market place, and by spending
their money they receive products and services according to their direct
wishes. In essence no matter how large a majority selects Coke over Pepsi those
who choose Pepsi still get to drink Pepsi. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
This
is the fundamental problem that arises with defining some people as small-d
democrats and others as ‘Democrats.’ It draws a stark black and white
distinction between to conceptions of what it means to adopt a democratic
system whether it is economic or political. Our anonymous friend fails to
recognize the hidden costs buying a product like Coke. These include economic,
health, and social side effects not accounted for in the actual monetary cost
of a can or bottle of Coke. It also assumes that people act as static agents,
that their desire to be ruled by on individual over another dose not change
with over time. This has been clearly
proven wrong on countless occasions like that of the 10’ congressional
elections. In essence the two stark conceptions of democracy presented by our
anonymous friend represent yet another false dichotomy within American
politics. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
There
is one thing we can be sure of in all of this. That our economic system is best
served when individuals are allowed to make economic decisions with as little
out side influence as possible. But without the protections generated by the
political majority there would be no freedom in the market place. The monopolies
once held by Standard Oil and Carnegie Steel proved that unregulated market
places do not maximize individual liberty. Nor is it possible to maintain an
efficient economic system with out a universal form of currency to insure fair
trade of surplus goods and services. A government operated by majority consent
is necessary to maintain the market place just as the market place is necessary
to maintain the liberties protected by government. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The
increasing use of the language of class warfare illustrates this point further.
Not so long ago a phrase like ‘class warfare’ went under a more accurate
synonym ‘economic democracy’ during the
Roosevelt years. Geoffrey Nurnberg in a 2005 commentary on ‘Fresh Air’
demonstrated this quantitatively by pointing out that the number of occurrences
of ‘economic democracy,’ with in the pages of the Times, dropped from hundred
and sixty times over the course of the 40’s to less the twenty times in the
90’s.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><sup><sup><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[3]</span></sup></sup></a>
Politicians, it seems in general, have chosen to seek out new and more
provocative forums of political rhetoric rather then actually tackle the issue
of what a democratic economy should actually look like. This is a fundamental
issue for all of us, small d-democrat or not. The Constitution provided for us
a system of making decisions and a series of basic protections, check and
balances, to restrain government from over stepping its boundaries. It did not,
nor did or our founding fathers leave us with a good answer as to how to
prevent the wealth of our nation from gathering in the hands of the few. The
top one percent of individuals controls 34 percent of the nation’s wealth. The
next 19 percent of individuals control over half. That means the other 80
percent are left to get by on less then a quarter of the nations wealth.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><sup><sup><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[4]</span></sup></sup></a> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
This
is not democratic. Although as a small d-democrat I have no interest in some
socialist redistribution of wealth. I also would not see the top percent of
Americans, who have the most to benefit from the American economy, protected
and supported by our national infrastructure, health care systems, universities
and armed forces be allowed to go with out paying their fair share. The problem
is many Democrats and Republicans would. And as someone who refuses to pick a
political party or stand idle while our political system grinds to a stand
still are simply left to keep living. Keep voting, working, writing, playing,
loving, laughing, and refusing to allow other to dictate or limit our choices.
We are left to keep democracy alive in our hearts and our personal lives and to
confront every cynic who tells us the end of our nation is nigh or that we must
chose between anarchy or domination. These are not the choices. The choices are
with out limit. We decide what we are and what we will become. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Cheers
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[1]</span></span></span></a> http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/11/the_small-d_democratic_case_ag.html<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[2]</span></span></span></a> http://www.panarchy.org/anonymous/democracy.1962.html<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[3]</span></span></span></a> http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~nunberg/democrats.html<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[4]</span></span></span></a> http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2011/11/01/occupy-wall-street-and-the-rhetoric-of-equality/<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-67771149533532318112012-01-02T15:02:00.000-08:002012-01-02T15:02:55.952-08:00A year passes...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A year has passed. At midnight, a day a go, we
drew a line and celebrated its ending. We dropped a ball. We popped opened a
few bottles of varying color and content and toasted the birth of 2012. In that
moment we reflected. What was 2011? Time magazine dubbed it the year of the
protestor. If we where to flip through the snap shots of a year past we would
find some simple truth in this decree. We would find photos from home of rural
Tea Party members and urban youths attempting to occupy the minds of Middle
America and the offices of Wall Street Respectively. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
If
we turned our minds eye, instead, towards the wider world we would see images
of dark faced Arabs taking to streets to overthrow aging dictatorships both
communist and colonial in nature; People who not quite like ourselves sought
not economic equality or individual dignity but instead basic human rights.
They called for Freedom from police brutality, Freedom of expression, Freedom
to realize their own individual destinies. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
We
find this in photographs of hundreds, then thousands, then millions of
protestors carrying green banners pouring into the streets of Cairo. We find it
in grainy still images smuggled out of Syria of innocent protestors being cut
down by pro-government forces. But what is even more striking are the images we
don’t see. There are no photographs of Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation in
the streets of rural Tunisia. Although many of us may still recall the Associated
Press correspondent Malcolm Browne’s photograph of Thích Quảng Đức, a
Vietnamese Buddhist monk, burning himself to death in Saigon in 1963.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Some will recall it as members of a generation who lived through and witnessed
the end of the Vietnam War. Others still younger, who have lived through the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will recall it as the cover of Rage Against the
Machine’s 1992 album. A few members of that former generation are still alive,
and together many of us have bared witness to photographs of the ‘final’
American convoy pouring out of Iraq and back into Kuwait. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
‘Final’
is the key word here. Those of the former generation still recall the final
moments of the war in Vietnam. Helicopters lifting hundreds then thousands of
American diplomatic personal and Vietnamese refugees from the rooftops of
Saigon and depositing them upon U.S. Naval vessels. Helicopters being pushed
off of carriers to make room for an endless stream of refugees and hundreds more
huddled on the rooftops of Saigon awaiting a rescue that would not come. The
Pairs Peace Accord had been signed in 1973. American troops had all but left
the country. Two year later Saigon was falling. For two years the war continued
on without America’s direct presence on the ground. Now we slip quietly from
Iraq. Leaving behind thousands of American contractors and many others in the
heart of Baghdad. I dare not draw any comparison between these to starkly
different wars, but we must wonder now about what images will pour from the
city of Baghdad in the years to come. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
All
ready there are images, mostly unseen by Americans, of Buddhist monks
committing the heretical act of self-immolation in Tibet. Protestors. Soldiers.
Refugees. Human beings. As the Dalai Lama points out there is so much courage
to be found in these images, even in those actions of a desperate few that we
find so deplorable. His holiness captures the question we must all ask now, in
a recent interview with the BBC.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
“There
is courage - very strong courage. But how much effect? Courage alone is no
substitute. You must utilize your wisdom… Many Tibetans sacrifice their lives.
Nobody knows how many people killed and tortured - I mean death through
torture. Nobody knows. But a lot of people suffer…”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
But
how much effect?<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> In
1966 the images of burning monks and nuns in the City of Saigon made the front
pages of newspapers like The Morning Record.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> They
protested war profiteering on the part of the US. The effect may have been the
end of US military involvement. It was not the end of war itself for the
Vietnamese or for humanity as a whole. It did not bring an end to Communism.
That nine lettered word, that in Ginsberg’s account, was “used by inferior
magicians with the wrong alchemical formula for transforming earth into gold…”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
So
what has ended? Where, when, how, why did it end? Where do we draw the line? Is
the death of Mohamed Bouazizi the end of a human life or the birth of a
thousand protestors? What can we make of
our own consciousness of the year that has come to pass? John Gardner defines
consciousness as ‘the state in which not all atoms are equal. In corpses,
entropy has won. The brain and the toenails have equal say.’ In such no two
images are equal. And in the end the government’s of old and the protestors of
tomorrow may have equal say yet. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
My
mind wonders back to my old college haunts and the classrooms where I first
read about the Ship of Theseus. A thought experiment as old as recorded
history, where we imagine a wooden sailing ship where each piece of timber is
slowly replaced over time in till no scrap of the original vestal remains. Does
it remain the same ship? Is two thousand and eleven the same year if we remove
the images of protestors from across the globe? Yet what would we replace them
with? Images like that of the ‘Vancouver kissing couple?’ A photograph that almost
all members of western society have viewed and determined now to be an
orchestrated and not truly authentic event. A volume could be written on that
photo alone…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
In
the end we must simply remember that Theseus’s Ship is still no matter what
Theseus’s Ship. Just as 2011 is still, in the consciousness of many, the year
of the protestor no matter what time does to erase the images and memory of
their courage and resolve. It’s that pivotal fact of ownership that makes a
year, a life, a consciousness what it is. We define a year not by when it ends
but by what parts of it we hold on to and what parts we let go. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
So a
year passes and we hold on to what we can and we let go of what we must…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div>
<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rage_Against_the_Machine_(album)#Artwork_and_sleeve_notes<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15799562<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Z6tIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zAANAAAAIBAJ&pg=3199,3882708&dq=immolation&hl=en<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Ginsberg, Wichita Vortex Sutra II<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-18805943468178422212011-12-23T16:45:00.000-08:002011-12-23T16:45:38.474-08:00Top Christmas Albums<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>710</o:Words> <o:Characters>4048</o:Characters> <o:Company>University of Akron</o:Company> <o:Lines>33</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>9</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>4749</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>14.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">How about some holiday music? Hear too much already? Bah humbug, well you’ve simply heard too much of the same old crap that fills the space between your radio dials and the grand halls of your local shopping center. You have, most likely as I have, heard Jingle Bells and Little Saint Nick just one to many times while shopping, working, or driving. All the same I have a great fondness of Christmas music, contemporary or otherwise, and I’ve decided to put a short list of my favorites together. The thought came to me while digging through my iTunes library on a day off. My freshmen roommate has left me with a well loved bias against singles and love for the experience of a complete album; the sort of collections of songs that would be worthy of heavy pressed vinyl and cardboard sleeves exploding with colorful artwork. So, for now, on with the list:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">1. <i>A Very She & Him Christmas</i> – Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward – 2011<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Hopefully you’ll be having a few friends and acquaintances by this Christmas Eve. And no matter if they are the closet of friends, comfortably distant relatives, or even long lost lovers your going to want some music to fill that void of silence as coats are collected and guest made comfortable. How about <i>A Very She & Him Christmas </i>an album of mostly covers of classics and soon to be classics? Simple lyrics with just the right number of accompanying studio musicians to fill out the melody make for the perfect relaxing background to even the most awkward of reunions. This is a rather new album for me but maybe it’ll become part of your seasonal standbys too. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">2. <i>Holiday Sprits</i> – Straight No Chaser – 2008<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Now for an album with even less accompaniment, actually to be exact no accompaniment. Yes another a capella group, yes the most cliché of all a capella groups, yes they are main street sellouts. Guilty on all counts, but they’ve nailed that perfect sound. A mix of Boy Band pop like the backstreet boys and college glee clubs that just sounds right. If you don’t enjoy this album in the background of your next holiday get together then you are a truly jaded soul. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">3. <i>Barenaked for the Holidays</i> – Barenaked Ladies – 2004 <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">If you enjoy the goofy lyrics of Straight No Chaser’s <i>12 Days of Christmas </i>then you’ll most likely love what has to be one of my all time favorites Barenaked Ladies’ <i>Barenaked for the Holidays. </i>You’ve probably heard their version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, my favorite version of my favorite Christmas Carol. It is, just as SNC’s <i>12 Days </i>the outlier of the album over all. This short carol is a small spot of seriousness within an otherwise fanciful and somewhat facetious album. Have no fear though, the album still captures a very real set of emotions truly unique to the holidays and all of us who have lived through a Christmas outside the confines of a Normand Rockefeller Portrait. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">4. <i>A Charlie Brown Christmas</i> – Vince Guaraldi - 1965<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Speaking of classics how about Saturday morning comics and network Christmas Specials. This album is the perfect family gathering album. No one in your family can play the piano? No worry Schroder has your back. Dad picks out a crummy tree? Charlie knows his pain. Family issues? Counseling is a nickel or two away. Sit back, embrace the chaos of the latest family drama and turn on this classic.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">5. <i>Christmas with the Rat Pack</i> – The Rat Pack – 2002<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">After dinner is over don’t bother cleaning up, it can wait. Go mix your self a martini or pour yourself J&B and soda and sit back and tap your foot. Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr.; Game, Set, and Match. This is simply the perfect Christmas album. It has all the classics and more style then you can shake a stick at. Never in my life have I heard Jingle Bells or Rudolph while at work or shopping and not thought to my self I’d rather be lessoning to the Rat Pack.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Now this is the most cliché post I’ve written in long time, justly so because it is simply that time of year. For a moment we all get to be saps. We get to reminisce about Christmases past that in reality where never as grand as we remember. It is this time of year that we dive into the insanity of another shopping season, gather with love ones, or simply sit back and throw on another album while we sink into our chairs at night and remember what was and what could have been. The music is just the sound track. We make all the memories our selves. But what better way to capture existence, even if just for a moment, then with a few old Christmas Favorites? So put some records on while I pour… <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">~ Disclaimer! ~<o:p></o:p></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">These albums listed in no particular order! I guarantee I skipped you favorite. Feel free to discuses and argue among yourselves and post your own favorites in the comments. Merry Christmas!<o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment--></div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-9540800856756066732011-12-22T17:53:00.000-08:002011-12-22T17:53:23.146-08:00Silence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>197</o:Words> <o:Characters>1129</o:Characters> <o:Company>University of Akron</o:Company> <o:Lines>9</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>2</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>1324</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>14.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Sitting down with a bowl of tomato soup, and a grilled cheese sandwich I dip the golden buttered bread into a sea of red. I take a bite. I feel a spark. A connection is made to some long lost place in time and space. I feel the urge to climb onto the rough and scream out lines of prose while sitting fire to effigies of Allen and Jack. I want to get up and paint pop art icons of the can and lead protests across college campuses into the hills an’ dales to save tortured beasts of burden from their unhappy fates! But this to passes quietly. It is but one spark in one small corner of the universe. But all of the times, peoples, and places brought into consciousness are to nothing more then a glint in the universes endless seething darkness. Madness. I lift the bowl to my lips and drink the red liquid as if taking part in some ancient blood rite; the kind of ritual which Franz wrote about; whose residual presence drove the men in white coats to resort to insulin therapy and electro shock to chase away the demons of those very same savages of old. I stand up as if to take a step forward, in order to break the hold of that moment, only to fall back down. Scream I think. Why bother I mutter. The music cracks, silence, the needle raises and falls onto its resting place. Silence. Embrace it. Fill it. Destroy it. <o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment--></div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-76634285175727512602011-12-22T17:52:00.001-08:002011-12-22T17:52:46.663-08:00Silence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>197</o:Words> <o:Characters>1129</o:Characters> <o:Company>University of Akron</o:Company> <o:Lines>9</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>2</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>1324</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>14.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Sitting down with a bowl of tomato soup, and a grilled cheese sandwich I dip the golden buttered bread into a sea of red. I take a bite. I feel a spark. A connection is made to some long lost place in time and space. I feel the urge to climb onto the rough and scream out lines of prose while sitting fire to effigies of Allen and Jack. I want to get up and paint pop art icons of the can and lead protests across college campuses into the hills an’ dales to save tortured beasts of burden from their unhappy fates! But this to passes quietly. It is but one spark in one small corner of the universe. But all of the times, peoples, and places brought into consciousness are to nothing more then a glint in the universes endless seething darkness. Madness. I lift the bowl to my lips and drink the red liquid as if taking part in some ancient blood rite; the kind of ritual which Franz wrote about; whose residual presence drove the men in white coats to resort to insulin therapy and electro shock to chase away the demons of those very same savages of old. I stand up as if to take a step forward, in order to break the hold of that moment, only to fall back down. Scream I think. Why bother I mutter. The music cracks, silence, the needle raises and falls onto its resting place. Silence. Embrace it. Fill it. Destroy it. <o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment--></div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-84316619376360110902011-12-20T15:49:00.000-08:002011-12-20T15:49:59.022-08:00Merry Christmas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>633</o:Words> <o:Characters>3611</o:Characters> <o:Company>University of Akron</o:Company> <o:Lines>30</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>8</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>4236</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>14.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Old women pass, as Christmas music floats within the stream of shuffling feet and crinkling shopping bags… as old women meet and exchange greetings. Plastic cards and small pieces of paper switch hand. Fussing of children. Angry middle age women clench fists around handfuls of coupons. As old women swap only greetings and recycled bits of news…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">They are the only ones to stop here in this moment… <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Others busy them selves with the push and pull…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Old women stand and talk…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Simple observations. Observations which where interrupted by the reply a woman made to one of my collages upon receiving a hearty ‘Merry Christmas.’<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">“It so nice to hear that someone in retail still says Merry Christmas…”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Someone? Does someone include the dozen other workers? How about the throng of women wearing holiday buttons proclaiming <i>the reason for the season</i>… Or all of those old women exchanging just the same exact greeting. The war on Christmas is nothing more then an argument between pundits. Spend a few days, weeks, or months in retail being asked by old men if your really still allowed to say such thing as Merry Christmas and you to will observe the same. Seasonal greetings, from the perspective of anyone having passed such time in retail, become as cliché as hallmark greeting cards and soda commercials. At times one feels the vein wish to avoid all such greetings in order to simply refuse to recognize the so-called <i>reason</i> for the season. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Many pundits would point to this emotional reaction as the apocalyptic conclusion to the so-called war on Christmas. Argue as you may about the purpose of the separation of church and state in the bill of rights, or the declarations made in the Treaty of Tripoli, or the morality of ‘blue’ laws, or even the history of how our first congress snubbed the Christmas Holiday altogether for some sixty odd years. Christmas is more alive then ever before. And in a season of holiday greetings and gift buying and other merry making I am much less concerned about the ‘War on Christmas,’ and more interested in why no one seems to have a problem with the Magi?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">I am of course here being facetious. But do those old women, posed in conversation remember the Magi of old? The wise men, who after riding from Babylon, and coming to the town of Bethlehem,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">“Saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 31.5pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Those strangely ‘oriental’ figures, with the dark skin complications of Middle Eastern peoples. I have set here two in my nativity. Three small Fisherprice Little People wise men wearing Arab head dress. For some odd reason mine are distinctly Asian, African, and Anglo Saxon in respective complications… But maybe that’s just it. We don’t have real wise men anymore, just a collective group of sudo-multicultural individuals carrying non-descript presents for the son of some monotheistic God. Is this what we where supposed to be afraid of? That secularism and political corrective-ness might rob us of the fact that the first group of men to travel into the lands of Judea to recognize our lord in savor where a bunch of Middle Eastern guys? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 31.5pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 31.5pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> In a world where it is unacceptable to portray Muslims as ‘normal people,’ or to utilize them as the sort of people who make for compiling reality television characters it is also very much unacceptable to recognize their role in the nativity. Or to recognize that Muslims may not celebrate Christmas but that they have recognized Jesus in their own unique way. Just as so many ‘fell on their knees in hopeless cathedrals praying for each others salvation…’ many more fall to their knees and proclaim those very places of worship besieged by legions of atheists and Muslims bent on their destruction! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 31.5pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 31.5pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> The rest of us keep shopping. A few of us stop to reflect and share what may be our last moments with a passing friend. I do my duty to the company and continue to pass out the appropriate greetings of my choosing. In the evening I will go home and put on an old record and pour a glass of whiskey. And in the quite of night I’ll meditate quietly, wondering to my self, where my missing Joseph figurine is…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 31.5pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 31.5pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i><b>Merry Christmas</b></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 31.5pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</span></div><!--EndFragment--></div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-89560108417221937272011-12-20T09:48:00.000-08:002011-12-20T09:48:08.296-08:00A very quick poem...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>88</o:Words> <o:Characters>502</o:Characters> <o:Company>University of Akron</o:Company> <o:Lines>4</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>589</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>14.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">She always came in the dead of night,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Bright light of day all but gone from her,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Spurring lust and shame,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Blame always laying with me,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Be it never the same, <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Flame of love now long gone,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Spawning a new dark void,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Devoid of purpose, Devoid of hope,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Groping only to find soft soap and lies,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Chastised and compromised by her thighs, <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Dies all love,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">But the comes a shove from above,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Mourning dove undreamed of full of purrs,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Spurs thoughts of hers and drabs of affection,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Reflections of her complexion,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Rejection and shame,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Became comfort and fresh air,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Caring from a ball of fluff and fur. <o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment--></div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-45774136958474660422011-12-11T10:16:00.000-08:002011-12-11T10:16:30.532-08:00“Never throw caution to the wind.”<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>510</o:Words> <o:Characters>2907</o:Characters> <o:Company>University of Akron</o:Company> <o:Lines>24</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>6</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>3411</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>14.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Church signs. Google it, according to one, ‘there are some questions that can’t be answered by Google.’ But some light can be shed on this rather fascinating phenomenon through just such a search. Leaf through the Google image results long enough and you may come across one that I drove past just the other day. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“Never throw caution to the wind.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Up in till this point in time my fascination with church signage had been a positive one. I had come to find these small quotable monuments to be the last true widely consumed articles of literate within our society. Their impact on individuals and society as a whole is for the most part a mystery to all those concerned, including my self. But their messages where always clear and impactful, yet this one of most recent discovery did not set well with me. This one was not observational. It was not a simple comical clique. It was a commandment. One not found in scripture. One which would upon further observation be found completely out of place within that narrative of old…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 56.3pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> What is it that motivates a local perish minister, priest, or cleric to produce these small vignette style sermons for their signposts? A structuralist might give us an account where the church sign post is simply another one a thousand some religious pieces of symbolic language operating distinctly separate from reality or even the confines of ones imagination. No more then the many bits of historical occultism like those organized and disseminated by Dan Brown and his decedents of old. I on the other hand tend to shy away from such explanations. I find my self-trying to image the life experiences of the man or woman whose very existence resulted in this odd expression of what I will venture to label as ‘faith.’<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 56.3pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 56.3pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> This is as you may feel is an overtly academic and overly intellectual way of approaching what are nothing more then simple clerical puns. But if you would also excuse my poor play on words you may take a moment to see beyond my own sad intellectual tendencies in order to approach the church sign for what it is; the expression of ones individual response to the world around them. In the case of the above quoted sign a world which this individual views as chaotic and filled with temptation and danger. Where all people should step lightly and approach all great moral quandary with a great deal of just that, caution. But I find here that just as big box retailers may have removed the Christ from Christmas by turning to the use of secular seasonal greetings; an over abundance of caution does just the same to remove the Christ out of Christian…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 56.3pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 56.3pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> We need only to turn to that once great narrative of old and find a man who heeded no such warning. He did not turn from the leper or from the diseased. He did not show caution when approached by prostitutes or those possessed by great evil. Nor did he show caution when calling out the hypocrisy of the Jewish Pharisees or standing in quite defiance of Roman law. And finally no caution did he show in the face of death. Not before the judgment of man, or the fury of nature, or the commandment of his lord did he show any such caution? How could anyone follow in such footsteps cautiously? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 56.3pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 56.3pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> So the next time you find your self-viewing one of these interesting pieces of clerical venting maybe you should take a moment to consider its conception. Or maybe not? Maybe you should just keep driving. <o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment--></div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-30285320169062785632011-09-29T14:46:00.000-07:002011-09-29T14:46:22.205-07:00Decorum<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>947</o:Words> <o:Characters>5402</o:Characters> <o:Company>University of Akron</o:Company> <o:Lines>45</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>12</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>6337</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>14.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">de·co·rum [dih-kawr-uhm, -kohr-]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span> </span>noun<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">1. dignified propriety of behavior, speech, dress, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">2. the quality or state of being decorous;<span> </span>orderliness; regularity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">3. Usually, decorums. an observance or requirement of polite society.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Decorum is a word. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">One found in any dictionary. For those unlike myself who know only of modern web based sources like the one I have made reference to below, that’s the big dusty tomb found at your local library or next to the desks of outmoded academics. Citing another one of the great monoliths of the digital age Wikipedia will inform you that decorum is word established in meaning by Lord Chesterfield. He was a statesman and man of letters who, at roughly the same time our country was being founded, was searching for a translation of the French <i>les moeurs </i>(‘Manners are to little, Morals are to much.’).<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <i><span> </span><o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Decorum is just that, a word. It seems in our society that at present it has no greater context. It is seldom found in the sweat pant wearing masses of college students stumbling to and from class or the ranks of working class people shuffling back and forth irrespective of the hue of their collar. Its absence has for most of my adult life been only a minor annoyance. In till a Thursday night Republican debate when a active duty Marine serving in Afghanistan was publicly booed by a audience in response to raising an important question about the fate of himself and his fellow marines. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span> </span>The candidate on stage, Rick Santorum, gave a stumbling response about returning to the policies of ‘don’t ask don’t tell.’ But it is not the booing of the audience that was most defining it was the silence. Columnist Mel Mintz, The Baltimore Sun, has nailed it on the head in stating, “Here is the critical point: Not one of those contenders chose to act like a president and defend that Marine's question. Nor did they truly answer his question.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Let us turn to another dusty old book next to my desk, Roberts Rules of Order. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">In debate a member must confine himself to the question before the assembly, and avoid personalities… It is not allowable to arraign the motives of a member, but the nature or consequences of a measure may be condemned in strong terms. <i>It is not the man, but the measure, that is the subject of debate.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">It is just that, the debate being held concerns the Constitution of the United States and the laws and offices it support. Not this Marine. Not this man who risks his life to defend those laws and protect the very freedom of public debate it self. Even the previous incidents where audiences applauded increasing numbers of executions or the out cries to allow individuals with out health insurance to be denied life saving care had so insulted public decorum. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span> </span>This is only one example of the absence of decorum in politics. It is not reasonable to assume that politicians such as Santorum, and others like Sarah Palin who studied communications and journalism in college, do not understand the importance or need for decorum. Then why do they allow such behavior to continue? Why do they continue to use and endorse violent and hateful rhetoric directed not towards the political measures before them but towards individuals they oppose? Perhaps if we did in the House of Commons and placed them a swords length from their advisories, drew a long red line between them, and forced them to confront their opponents face to face they would hold more dear their shared humanity. Although even the statement I just made is in itself a form of reactionary hyperbole, and it too is worthy of scorn.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span> </span>Lets take for example the use of the word treason. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">treason [tree-zuhn]<span> </span>noun<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">1. the offense of acting to overthrow one's government or to harm or kill its sovereign.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">2. a violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or to one's state.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">3. the betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith; treachery.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Rick Perry is quoted saying, “Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous — or treasonous in my opinion.” Is printing money an act of over throwing the government or the President? I doubt this; I even more seriously question the idea of putting a man to death for executing the laws of the United States of America. But treason is word not only found in political speeches, it is found on the signs held by and slogans shouted by thousands of Tea Party ‘Patriots.’ They call for any number of congressional leaders, or even the president, to be charged with the high crime of treason. More disturbing time and time again they use small children to carry those signs. Teaching grade school boys and girls to cry out for the execution of the men and women that you and I have elected. In fairness decorum is not only lacking here but also with the thousands of Union protestors like those who stormed the Wisconsin Capital building causing over $270 million in damages.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span> </span>Let us return though to our Marine. He is just that ‘our’ Marine, he is as of right now fighting on some foreign field of battlefield. Their I feel we can be sure amongst the violence of war decorum is at most times meaningless. It should not be here. So let me take a strike at the issue at question, the one that those candidates where unable conjure the necessary composure to respond to from amongst their talking points. In Greece outside the city Thebes stands a stone lion. The lion is a monument to the 300 men of the lead division of the Thebes’ army, who in the Battle of Chaeronea 338 BC fought to the death defending their homeland. Every one of them fought and died with his male lover at his side. And when Philip the II of Macedonia and his son Alexander the Great ventured across that dissolute battlefield they found the bodies of those 300 men heaped upon one another. Philip was so moved by their courage that he erected that monument in the honor of those men who had but moments before been his enemy.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span> </span>If decorum is no longer held sacred, and treason is to be found in the actions of all men then I will keep my own words of outrage to myself. Instead I direct those in the audience and the candidates on that stage to words of King Philip II, <o:p></o:p></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: center;"><i>‘Perish any man who suspects that these men either did or suffered anything unseemly.’<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">Hopefully, this to in itself, will not be too much a breech of decorum…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Cheers<o:p></o:p></div><div><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" /> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /> <!--[endif]--> <div id="ftn1"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/decorum<o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn2"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decorum<o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn3"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-09-26/news/bs-ed-dont-ask-letter-20110923_1_gop-debate-gop-nomination-gays<o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn4"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Art. 5 Sect. 36<o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn5"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/05/13/wisconsin-capitol-repair-costs/<o:p></o:p></div></div></div><!--EndFragment--></div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-21149559518385010862011-09-26T12:55:00.000-07:002011-09-26T14:17:16.328-07:00Oil, Politics, and Planting Trees<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">Today, September 26<sup>th</sup>, Wangari Maathai died of cancer. Who she was may be a mystery to many Americans. What she did though may stand as the answer too many of the problems we face today. Another thing happened today, something that was most likely noticed by a much larger number of Americans, the price of gasoline fell to a national average $3.54. That is a drop of 12 cents in a matter of two weeks.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[1]</span></span></span></a> What caused the drop? Increased domestic production combined with new oil reserves in Canada have North America poised to out pace Saudi and even possibly Russian reserves. In the process the White house and the EPA have pushed back against the coal industry while simultaneously opening the door to whole new series of environmental questions which have come to the forefront with the approval of a new oil pipeline stretching 1,700 miles from Alberta to Texas. <o:p></o:p></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">What the president has done is made a painfully difficult choice in the face of a looming economic recession; One that comes with a certain amount of environmental blowback, but also a great number of economic opportunities. Many have protested the pipeline, including NASA scientists, creating the illusion that stopping its construction would some how limit America’s consumption of Oil. Once again individuals from both sides of the political divide are holding the government responsible for a problem created not by government but by individuals. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">This is where Maathai comes in. Maathai was the first African women to win the Nobel peace prize. She was award the prize for the simple act of planting a tree. Well that and leading millions of impoverished women across Africa and the world in planting over 20 million trees.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[2]</span></span></span></a> The tree became for her an act of democratic defiance. In planting trees women provided them selves with a renewable resource that stopped the spread of desertification, provide clean water, firewood, and through Maathai’s foundation a form of much needed household income. Many said she was just planting trees. But when 20 million people plant a tree the world can find it self-turning in a whole new direction.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">In my part of the world we have witnessed the rise of a new conservative movement, the tea party. A group of individuals who are calling for the dismantling of large portions of the federal government in order to reduce federal deficits and free Americans from the burden of federal taxation. They call for an end to government ‘handouts’ such as welfare and food stamps. According to the White House budget calculator<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[3]</span></span></span></a> eliminating food stamps would save me $19.08, it would also lead to malnutrition and the reemergence of diseases mostly unseen since the 20’s. What’s the hidden cost to society? I would suspect much higher then the savings, and the same could be said of many other programs from the $11.66 I could save on housing assistance or the $4.24 that I could keep if only we eliminated federal aid to students. Getting rid of that might even have saved you from having to read this blog. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">What would Maathai have suggested in the face of such crippling problems such as the deficit and job loss her in America? Perhaps she would tell us to planet a tree. Then maybe drive a little less. Buy a smaller car. Volunteer. What ever she might recommend she would tell us to act as individuals. Not blame is a mostly unobtrusive government for problems that are caused by the overconsumption of individuals. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">Some how the tea party, conservative pundits, network news hosts, and many a blogger have drawn a mysterious link between government spending an the end of the world. In the view presented to most Americans raising government debt and a growing federal government are leading the world to some apocalyptic end. They come to this conclusion completely outside the context of History. Take for example Joshua S. Goldstein’s article on Salon.com.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[4]</span></span></span></a> At the beginning of 1900’s through WWI and II we say tens of millions die in wars that destroyed whole continents. Then with the cold war regional conflicts and the impending fear of atomic Armageddon brought about the deaths of millions. And:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Now, in the early twenty-first century, the worst wars, such as those in Iraq and Sudan, kill hundreds of thousands. We fear terrorist attacks that could destroy a city, but not life on the planet. The fatalities still represent a large number and the impacts of wars are still catastrophic for those caught in them, but overall, war has diminished dramatically.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">This is the actual trend; less people are dying, in fewer wars. But because of whatever number of factors you wish to list, from the 24-hour news cycle to the hyperbole of right or left wing political factions, most people live in a constant state of fear. Maathai would tell them to take a deep breath and go plant a tree. I would tell them to remember Eisenhower. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"> Eisenhower was the great Republican president who warned us about the growth of the Military-Industrial complex. The tea party and its congressional representatives who wish to cut all forms of government spending short of defense would do well to remember his words…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. These plain and cruel truths define the peril and point the hope that came with this spring of 1953.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">What comes with the fall of 2011? No matter what jobs bill congress passes. No matter how large the deficit becomes. No matter how scared the average American may be. Change will continue to sweep the Middle East. Companies will continue to mine coal and refine oil. Corporation will hire more or less workers. And politicians will continue to do whatever it is they do. But individuals like you and I will be faced with a choice. The same one Wangari Maathai was faced with. Whether to stay in our homes entrenched in our own ethnic and ideological fears of what lies outside, or step out into the world and plant a tree. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">Maybe we won’t all plant trees. Maybe some of us will just go to work or keep searching for that new job. Maybe you’ll volunteer. Maybe you’ll eat junk food and watch TV. Maybe you’ll create the next great must have Christmas gift. Play music or get drunk. Whatever it is you do, from voting to buying a new car, it will have greater effect on the world then all the screaming and chest beating the tea party or any political movement could ever have. And for that looming deficit that’s going to crush the average American, last year it only cost me $39.22. So I say lets do as Eisenhower and build a few new roads. Trade in a couple old guns in for a few new schools. And turn away from the politics of finger pointing and towards the actions of individuals. Let’s go plant a tree with Maathai. And maybe we’ll all get a Nobel Prize like hers and the President’s <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><br />
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<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[1]</span></span></span></a> http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/09/26/business-us-gas-prices-california_8700563.html<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn2"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[2]</span></span></span></a> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=140796053<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn3"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[3]</span></span></span></a> http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/taxes/tax-receipt<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn4"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=783636620214757315#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">[4]</span></span></span></a> http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/09/17/winning_war_on_war_excerpt/index.html<o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div></div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783636620214757315.post-13282360025305563852011-09-22T15:00:00.000-07:002011-09-22T15:01:33.733-07:00Coffee Shop<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Times;">Cross from me today in the coffee shop was an Iraq vet. About my age, I over heard him recount his journey over seas to a passing barista. Victory in Iraq... a journey home... an uncertain future. A small part of me envied him, the journey he took, the years he served, coincided with the years I spent away at college fumbling through books and drinking away long weekends. Yet I wonder if this is an emotion we both shared. He was studying preparing for clearly his own college journey. He wanted a degree like I had, and I wanted the sense of accomplishment and honor he carried home with him. But in the end we both faced the same uncertain future. After four years in college I was left contemplating military service as an escape from a dismal future in the work force. And after some similar number of years in the army he was turning to college in what was most likely the same fashion. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Times;"> I wonder if he was confronting much the same world I was. Everyday I went to work and I was confronted by an endless parade of conservatives and tea party members. An older generation constantly reminding me of how little I knew about the way the world ‘really’ worked. How the country was being torn apart by a ballooning federal government and its wasteful ‘spending’. Spending which for my grandfather’s generation had guaranteed service men good jobs and academics like my self a place in the civil services or academic realms. Spending which now had to be traded in for tax cuts and new Promised Land without the constraints of government regulation and bureaucratic red tape. A new republic that just simply didn’t need men like my self, and may or may not have for need men like him. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times;">I’m left like so many unsure of how to feel about my generation. The wars we’ve fought do not provide us with the sense of accomplishment that WWII did for the baby boomers now grabbing at the reigns of political power. On the other hand neither the war in Afghanistan or Iraq have been able to spark the rage or anger that fueled the Woodstock generation which has all but passed out of the politics of today. The EPA and all of the other great achievements of that generation are slowly being turned back. Even the great social safety net founded by the Eisenhower generation is now under attack. Our generation is left floundering for some place, some purpose, some great achievement or purpose to proclaim for our generation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Times;">Yet at the same time our own youthful president, a reflection in him self of a long passed Camelot, has been rejected by the rest of the republic and twisted into an escape goat for a failed political system. Our music branded as so much noise and racket. Our books as nothing more then dime novels filled with idealistic conjecture. Our cars are cheap imports. Our green business ventures tech companies as nothing more then Ponzi schemes. At the same time it’s our president who fights to maintain social security. It’s our music the stands for the silenced masses in the face of censorship and social constraint. It’s our novels and films that try to provide meaning and purpose to future generations. It’s our cars that provide a future at least a little less dependent of foreign oil. It is our green ventures that provide sustainable energy. And companies like Apple that grow and create jobs when the rest of the economic world shutters. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Times;">A large portion of our generation has fought and won much of two wars we did not desire to be apart of and returned mostly intact. Another part graduated from college at time when the costs of education where reaching all new heights. Now all of us are left wondering what we worked for? In a world where previous generations dismiss our educations as meaningless in the face of their accumulated ‘wisdom’, and at the same time refuse to put to work a generation of returning vets, where are we left to turn? Not to Washington. Not to some third party. Not to any of the preconceived wisdom of some bygone generation of seniors. We have to find something else. We are left to coble together a new vision for the future. One I think we will find on the discarded pages of rap lyrics. In the countless folded and worn pages of postmodern novels and dyeing newspapers accumulated in coffee shops and libraries. In blogs and social network posts. We will find it in the countless millions all across the world raising up, responding to new forms of communications, and creating their own destines. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Times;">I have no idea what this future looks like. I know only this, it cannot be decided by cable news shows or syndicated pundits who only serve their own endless quest for ratings and profits. It most be decided by the collective consciousness of a generation of young men and women who have journeyed half way around the world whether through travel or studies. Those who have found themselves sitting in coffee shops with freshly printed degrees at home or entering college classrooms or new careers after years of public service. Hopefully I may be able to at least observe, even perhaps spark in some small way a revolution in thought. Maybe we can still turn a generation away from rhetoric and towards real thinking creative growth. Maybe we can find a purpose for a discarded academic like my self and the former marine who sat across from me. Maybe we still have a purpose if only the more abstract one of finding a purpose. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Times;">Or maybe I’ll join the army, and he’ll get a degree and the world will just keep on turning. I think I’d rather just go listen to some old vinyl and pen another blog post or story no one will ever read. Cheers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div></div>Bretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01732622948763838902noreply@blogger.com0